International Human Rights Day
Pomegranate House provides a weekly topic of the week to bring ideas and discussion to the wider table. This piece was written by Hana Mosavie
Yesterday marks the day where we remind ourselves of our rights and liberations gifted by birth. Unfortunately, we look around and see the world in turmoil.
2,500 years ago (539 BC), the first written charter of human rights was etched into a stone cylinder by Cyrus the Great in Persia, modern-day Iran. Since then, globally we have seen continued war, oppression, liberation, destruction, and genocide; these are only within geopolitics. Looking closer into our own communities we can see segregation, humiliation, ostracisation, and all the other negatively associated ‘ations. We are at a time in history that is very unique. We are at the end of the most manual ways of living, and at the start of the age of A.I. technology, which is propelling us into a vastly unknown future. This is the time to make a difference. COVID-19 has been difficult on every population in the world, but one thing that came out of this year is the appreciation of family, life, health, and any security that can be attained. A question to ask would be, are human rights enough for us to realise how to be kind and allow ourselves to treat others and ourselves fairly?
To think back to when Cyrus the Great freed the slaves, declaring that “all people had the right to choose their own religion, and established racial equality” can provide evidence that we have always had it in us to know what is acceptable, and equal. As time goes on, there are more causes as to why our reasoning for that basic common knowledge can become difficult to fully encompass; capitalised societies breed jealousy, and greed; communistic ideology could birth resentment and distrust. No one is perfect, and as a human it is up to us to understand what flaws we may have developed, and most importantly, be accountable for them. A lot of characteristics that we develop derive from childhood, some of these anxieties can fuel this sense of vulnerability. As an adult, we can cope with these changes, but our development means our coping mechanisms regress to an earlier stage. There are many issues we could tackle but the causality is subjective to the person or situation.
By being exposed to every race and religion that is possible has provided strong insight; within every single community, some problems are unlikely to be exposed due to this basic need to feel valued and appreciated as a group worth accepting. Going back to the time of imperialism, we have created this global culture where people are forever trying to prove themselves. We can see this same need happening systemically in individuals, communities, and countries; when there is a fault, it is the hardest thing to acknowledge and be accountable for. When in reality, that characteristic alone provides some of the greatest strength. Strength to show the world that the passionate cause is not what they expected it to be. Every person and country in the world have a needed place, no one is better than one another and unique wisdom can be given from every individual. Perhaps that is the true meaning of human rights? The equality to hear and understand every person’s perspective, providing a platform for passionate people from every group. This alone is one of the beauties the world can give us. Once we embrace this knowledge to accept everyone for their differences, and uniqueness we could embrace one another with open arms (metaphorically, COVID-19 is still around) and learn from every community. Think of how quickly our minds might development if that could be so? Perhaps it is this sense of identity that needs to be attributed to a new charter of human rights, the right to make mistakes, be accountable, and grow from past traumas to be better and do better. Both men and women fight a battle against a characteristic their gender resigns them to be. While women’s empowerment has a very long road ahead to become equal, men are still at the beginning of their journey to truly understand the limitations they face to be at an equal standing to other measurements of women. The strength of emotion and community women can feel points to known facts that men’s suicide rate is 4 times the number of women. The idea of being a man, or being a woman sometimes pulls us away from just being human first.
While this may seem like a passionate piece on peace, research provides a strong correlation with less stress and healthy living and longevity, with better standards of living which as it relates to your own mentality of life. Misconceptions and resentment are the cause of a lot of destruction. Fake news/misinformation, propaganda and proxy wars can be combatted through this strong sense of self and humanity.
They say our main evolution derives from survival of the fittest, but more recent research shows we have developed to a stage that shows its survival of the kindest. If we do not look out for each other now, thousands of years of civilisation and millions of years of development would have been for nothing but greed with an ego problem.
